Rowland Morgan Says: "You Too, May Be Able To Sell Power To The Electric Company!"
(Page 2 of 3)
January/February 1978
By Dana R. Rowe
The DC "Juice" supplied by the windplant (via the diodes) doesn't have to be routed to the batteries in Rowland Morgan's barn, however: Instead, at the flick of a switch, that current can be directed to the real "star" of the Morgan wind power system ... the Gemini Synchronous Inverter. This device (available from Windworks, Rt. 3, Box 329, Mukwonago, Wis. 53149) can—when interposed between a variable-voltage DC power source (such as a wind generator) and an AC power grid—convert DC electricity to AC electricity of the same voltage, frequency, and phase as that in the power company's lines.
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What this means to the members of the Morgan family is that they can draw 120-volt, 60-cycle AC current directly from their windplant (when the machine's blades are turning fast enough to generate electricity) and use that current to run any and all of their electric appliances. In addition, however, the Gemini inverter allows the Morgans to feed any of their windplant's surplus electricity right into the power company's lines. (When this happens, their electric meter turns backwards ... and the Morgans appear to the power company to be using a negative amount of electricity!)
NARRAGANSETT'S ROLE
In periods of little or no wind, the Morgans are forced to rely on Narragansett Electric for their AC electricity ... which—of course—they have to pay for. (At the same time, however, the Morgans can operate some of their AC appliances—ordinary light bulbs and electric heaters, for instance—on the DC juice stored in their battery banks.) "The problem," Rowland explains, "is that you can't control the wind. You can't depend on the wind being there when you put a turkey into the oven. So we do have to buy some of our electricity."
As it turns out, though, the Morgans don't have to purchase very much electricity. The family uses only about 800 kilowatthours (kwh) of electrical power per month, while the windplant produces some 1,300-kwh per month on the average. (The excess wattage is channeled either into battery storage or into the utility grid.) Exactly how much electricity the Morgans buy each month depends on how often the wind doesn't blow.
Of course, it's entirely possible that in the not-too-distant future the Morgans won't have to buy any electricity: They may be allowed to sell their windplant's excess wattage to the power company. Narragansett Electric is reportedly in the process of deciding on a "negative rate schedule" for the Morgans' electricity ... but whether the company will pay a wholesale price for that electricity or the higher retail price isn't yet clear.
[EDITOR'S NOTE.The folks at Windworks of Mukwonago, Wisconsin—factory representatives for the Gemini Synchronous Inverter—say that there are currently five individuals in the U.S. who are using Gemini units to feed surplus electricity into utility grids and who are getting paid for doing so. All five Gemini users, however, are receiving a wholesale—not retail—price for their excess juice. Because wholesale electricity prices—which come to between 2¢ and 3¢ per kilowatt-hour, roughly—are less than half the retail prices, Windworks recommends that anyone who owns a Gemini inverter use his/her surplus wattage to heat water, run flywheels, or perform some other storage-type task, rather than sell that wattage to a power company at a cut-rate price.]
